Thanks for the replies gentleman.

After reading this it got me thinking that while this isn't the less is more approach, and should only be used for blades that need a bevel set it seemed like an alternative for a guy with a microscope and a lack of experience.

By taking the blade to a wire edge (easily seen with a microscope) with a coarser stone the honer is sure that both bevels meet at the edge along the entire blade, by progressing through the finer stones following David's instructions remove the remaining wire on the finishing stone followed by a few regular strokes would leave the edge as David describes "about as sharp as that razor will ever be before moving to the plain-leather strop". This procedure seems like it would take away allot of guesswork and knock down on the amount of test shaves and indecision a new guy faces.

I am not in any position to recommend this as an alternative but I found this point of view interesting. I think I will test this method on my next eBay acquisition.

Miles